Tahiti (Papeete), French Polynesia
Yesterday we were in Bora Bora and I hope to blog later today about our visit there, but the subject of this post is our visit to Tahiti on Monday evening and all day Tuesday. The first thought that comes to mind is that I've never before seen water with such a deep blue color. Absolutely dazzling. And the fact that the entire imposing land mass that is Tahiti is the product of volcanic eruption is quite amazing. The island is more developed than I would have guessed. When we left the ship after docking Monday evening to explore a little, the first thing we confronted was a heavily traveled six lane roadway we had to cross in order to move in the direction of town.
I have a number of photos I want to include in this post. I'll start with a few showing the isIand as one views it on the initial approach by boat and the traditional welcome extended to cruise ship visitors. (You can make all photos larger for viewing by clicking on them.)
Next, some random water and land scenes of Tahiti.
On the way to a snorkeling excursion we encountered what seemed like endless numbers of dolphins swimming alongside the boat just playing with us.
Snorkeling itself was fun, although the coral was essentially colorless and there weren't many fish around the spot they took us to. (The local guides at our next stop, Bora Bora, explained that much of the coral in their area, which is also monotone in color, died some years ago when water levels in the lagoon that surrounds all of Bora Bora became abnormally shallow and the water became overheated. They said that new coral is growing under and around the old, but that it will take some 20 years or so before the situation normalizes.)
As we then moved from one snorkeling spot to another, we saw in the distance huge waves and some surfers lined up on their boards waiting to make a go for it. The photos I got were quite far away but with the enlarging effect that results from cropping I'm able to show to a reasonable degree what was going on out there. This is one of those moments when you're all too conscious of the difference between your age and theirs.
In the harbor just adjacent to where our ship was docked we couldn't help but notice this little private boat. Note the helicopter in the closeup.
And right next to our ship was this huge container-like ship variously marked "Yacht Express" and "Yacht- Transport.com". Turns out it shows up twice a year in Tahiti to offload and pick up yachts of various sizes that are transported from one part of the world to another by their owners. I'm including a series of photos showing the transport in its "dry" state and then in its "flooded" state which allows the various boats aboard to be floated off. I've never seen anything like this before and was fascinated just watching the process.
We ended our visit to Tahiti with a show aboard ship featuring a local dance troupe named "O Tahiti E." Spectacular! What a talented group.
As I mentioned at the outset, I'll try to post again later today on our visit yesterday to Bora Bora.
I have a number of photos I want to include in this post. I'll start with a few showing the isIand as one views it on the initial approach by boat and the traditional welcome extended to cruise ship visitors. (You can make all photos larger for viewing by clicking on them.)
Next, some random water and land scenes of Tahiti.
On the way to a snorkeling excursion we encountered what seemed like endless numbers of dolphins swimming alongside the boat just playing with us.
Snorkeling itself was fun, although the coral was essentially colorless and there weren't many fish around the spot they took us to. (The local guides at our next stop, Bora Bora, explained that much of the coral in their area, which is also monotone in color, died some years ago when water levels in the lagoon that surrounds all of Bora Bora became abnormally shallow and the water became overheated. They said that new coral is growing under and around the old, but that it will take some 20 years or so before the situation normalizes.)
As we then moved from one snorkeling spot to another, we saw in the distance huge waves and some surfers lined up on their boards waiting to make a go for it. The photos I got were quite far away but with the enlarging effect that results from cropping I'm able to show to a reasonable degree what was going on out there. This is one of those moments when you're all too conscious of the difference between your age and theirs.
In the harbor just adjacent to where our ship was docked we couldn't help but notice this little private boat. Note the helicopter in the closeup.
We ended our visit to Tahiti with a show aboard ship featuring a local dance troupe named "O Tahiti E." Spectacular! What a talented group.
As I mentioned at the outset, I'll try to post again later today on our visit yesterday to Bora Bora.
Comments
Post a Comment